Chase Rep Insider Answers Your Questions

By consumerist.comJanuary 7, 2008

The Chase customer service rep whose 10 Confessions we posted last week has been reading your comments and has responded to some of your questions. The rep also offers five more tips that they forgot to include in their original post.

“To all the Readers of Consumerist-

I’d like to thank you all for taking the time to read the Chase Confessions, I’ve kept an eye on it and would like to respond to some of the questions left for me in the comments section.

RANDOTHEKING: “Your logic on #4 is dumb and most people don’t realize that stating “I didn’t get my statement” is an automatic fix for your account. At Macy’s if you stated that then your late fee and finance charge were removed as legit no questions asked. You have to factor in that your statements go through a 3rd party called the USPS and they lose shit all the time.”

That might be the policy at Macy’s, but not at Chase. If you state that you didn’t receive statement, I’ll confirm your address, and if it’s right, I can offer to either send you another copy in the mail. I can also fax one to your home, office, or local branch. I can also get you online and talk you through signing up online and viewing your statement there. No doubt, the USPS loses a lot of mail. But if that’s how you choose to receive your statement, it can be lost, like I said I don’t doubt some people didn’t receive it. But I have to take into account that you know you have a credit card, you’re in possession of the banks money, and you know it needs to be paid back. One thing I would suggest, mark it on your calender, set a reminder in your cell phone, or if you just kinda ‘feel’ the bill is coming due, just call customer service, we have a ton of options to get your statement to you. Also, if you haven’t gotten your statement, and need to make a payment before it will be late, let us know, in most cases we’ll gladly waive the fee for you to make a payment over the phone, as long as it’s not habitual.

ECHODORK: “So, this is basically the same as most of the other call center confessions, I suppose. Don’t yell at me, and unless you’re a profitable customer, don’t expect much. Fantastic.”

Not really. You can yell at me if you want to, but obviously, it would make me less eager to resolve your issue. And, I try to help everyone out best I can, but keep in mind, I have to follow rules and guidelines set by Chase. I have a lot of leeway and discretion with those guidelines to do things on your account, but don’t be surprised if you encounter what many in the customer service industry call ‘the asshole fee’. That would be not getting things waived, or doing the bare minimum to help you out.

PUBLIC ENEMY #1: “If the CSR is reading these comments, how do I get Chase Freedom to stop pestering me about their buyer protection program? I’m not interested, and I get a stupid letter about every two weeks and/or a phone call about it.”

What you do is, call the customer service line, and ask the Rep to exclude you from all marketing or solicitations. We’ll remove you from all mailing lists, all telemarketing, all special offers, emails, everything. Takes about 2 minutes and you’re all set.

“DALLASDMD: “8. NON-PROFIT” What a load of BS. The bank is most definitely making money off your account. Why would they keep you as a customer if they were not? They are not obligated to keep you. The fact is the bank is making money each time you make a transaction. Those fees each business pays to accept credit cards goes to VISA/MC and to your bank. If I am not profitable, then why is Chase sending me post cards with reminders of my rewards plan and lists of merchants where I can get special deals if I use my Chase card?

The majority of those transaction fees go to Visa and MasterCard. We do get a small cut of it, I don’t know exactly how much. But usually it’s not enough to offset the other things on the account, especially if you just have a balance transfer amount on the card, and aren’t using it. I mean, if you drop 30k every month, then it would be enough, but other people spending 2k or 3k it wouldn’t be.

CMDR.SASS: “”I WILL GO TO BAT FOR YOU IF YOU TREAT ME LIKE A HUMAN” -I will continue to treat you like the faceless, interchangeable cog in the Chase machine that you are because “YOU ARE NOT A UNIQUE SNOWFLAKE”

Fair enough. Just expect the same obviously. To me, most people, you’ll just be a number, some guy I talk to once and that’s it.

MGYQMB: “”We do let cards go over a little bit, just in case you’re in a situation where you really need it. Imagine these scenarios. Imagine you’re in a restaurant, and you go to pay the bill. Would you rather be declined and be embarrassed in front of your friends and family, or have it go through and pay the $39 fee.”

This is ridiculous. Of course I want it to decline, as I DON’T HAVE THE MONEY. This is the same argument for overdraft fees, which turns 3 $5 purchases into a -$100 nightmare.”

While you might want it to decline, the other 1000 people I’ve encountered in this situation have screamed at me demanding what I would do to compensate them for the embarrassment they’ve had to endure. I mean, the restaurant is just an example. I’ve had people standing in line at Wal-Mart be declined, at the post office sending a package, paying for some other item in a line somewhere that declined the card and left them hot and bothered looking for other means of payment while people looked on. To me, if putting some food on your credit card is going to get you declined, you should re-think your spending habits and maybe not go out to eat. But, if you want to make certain you won’t go over your credit line, just give us a call and we’ll put an Overlimit Block on your account. That way, you can be certain you wont incur the $39 fee for making that purchase.

TODDKRAVOS: “I guess the most important rule to CSRs is STILL NOT BEING TAUGHT/TRAINED: Retain the customer at any expense to prevent negative and long lasting ill effects against our brand. In the age of the internet, customer satisfaction and retention are extremely important these days. Boy am I glad I don’t use Credit Cards, I’d lose my patience real quick with a CSR like this.”

This may come as a surprise, but remember those ‘Non-profit’ cardmembers we’ve talked about. Well, if something comes up, we are advised to encourage you to close the account. That’s why the threat of “I’ll transfer my balance elsewhere” might be met with the Rep offering to close the account during that phone call. Not something I like to do often, but part of the job. As far as losing a customer, to be honest, if I lose you, I gain somebody else. The credit card industry is one big revolving door. There is some other person on the phone right now, at Bank of America, at Citi, at “Name Big Bank Here” telling one of their Reps the exact same thing, that they’re leaving. And where will that person go..? Probably to Chase. People transfer their balance out all the time, in fact, every Rep in the call center probably averages over $600k in balance transfers per month. Unfortunately, with all the big banks, most of you named Average Joe Consumer, are treated like like a number. And I don’t think you’d lose your patience with me, I’m actually one of the better Reps, by that meaning I know what I’m doing, I give the best advice possible, and, as an added bonus, I speak clear and fluent English.

VASTRIGHTWING: “I always love the response, “we’re not making ANY money on you.” as if this is an excuse for bad service and a way to make me feel guilty. My thinking is, if they are not making any money on me, it’s their problem, not mine. 99% of the time they lie. The other 1% of the time, yes, they didn’t make any money on me this time, but they are on most everyone else. Please let me shed a tear for the bank. Paleeeeesssssseeeeee!”

You’re right, and it’s not excuse for bad service, and I don’t try to make you feel guilty either. It’s just the facts.

Other than that, some other things I wanted to mention in the first post but forgot to put in..

1. If I say no to your request, ask for a supervisor. My mind is not gonna change if you argue with me.
2. You have to verbally state your request. I’m not allowed to just waive fees, even if you and I both know that’s why you called.
3. Same thing with asking for a supervisor. You have to ask, I can’t just transfer you, even if it would make both of us happier.
4. If you really want to voice a concern, write or email our executive office. Yelling at me about is gonna do nothing. I’m not the one in the boardroom making all these rules and regulations.
5. If you don’t want a late fee, don’t be late. One thing I always tell people, your due date is not the only day you can make the payment. You’re allowed to make it before that.